Monday, September 07, 2009

While we're on the subject of education

I had the good fortune of attending CABL's Louisiana Leadership course in 2005. One of the things which really resonated with me from that experience is the importance of community colleges in both urban and rural communities. Delgado fills a badly needed void in our community. The school places folks of all ages in high paying occupations such as welding and nursing....fields which are critical to our city services and are also in high demand.

Chancellor Wright's quote is spot on:

"We've been left on the side of the road, " he said. "And the economy can't go forward the way it needs to without the people that we are preparing."

I think I could make a pretty good argument that Delgado is just as important to this city's success as UNO or Southern....especially in terms of job retention and the opportunity it provides young people who may not be able to economically sustain a 4 year education.

Community colleges around the nation are now overloaded with enrollments and once again the US Dept of Ed is paying attention to the funding needed. It wouldn't surprise me that the LA politicos used Delgado as a political foil against socialist education. Cut the right hand off to spite the left. ugh!

A lot of people have slammed Dr. Wright in the nola.com comments section which is unfair - what the article did not mention is Dr. Wright took the chancellor's position just a little over a year ago, and inherited this ongoing problem from Dr. Johnson.

Dr. Wright has done a very good job getting his finger on the pulse of DCC and its place in the LCTCS and even more challenging its place within the greater Louisiana political system.

Yes, this state definitely needs 4 year colleges that crank out research. However we also need 2 year colleges to provide technical training as well as helping students build the foundation for continuing on to the 4 year university. For the "flagship community college" in the state of Louisiana to endure the lack of resources to rebuild, forcing this institution to turn away students in a recession, is criminal.